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Linky McLinkster: The Week, The Weekend and WMSE

Sat. Nite Duets

words by Cal Roach

Are you tired of people bitching about the snow yet? Or are you just tired of shoveling and scraping the windows on your car? Either way, get your aggressions out this weekend (and all week long) by supporting some great local artists, venues, rollergirls and/or brewers of beer! WMSE has it all planned out for you.

You could opt to start your weekend off with rock and roll; there will be plenty of it happening about town tonight (Friday). How about a stroll over to the Cactus Club–doesn’t that sound nice? Milwaukee’s own Midnight Reruns are having a release party for their debut EP, Central Time. Also playing will be Slow Walker, a band that recently burst onto the local scene. The group put out its own debut, Good For Business, early last year, and has been making waves with a fierce live reputation and even some airplay on good old WMSE!

Otherwise, Bay View’s got more rock for you at Frank’s Power Plant. In from New York, it’s Zvoov, fun to pronounce and also entertaining to listen to, especially if you like proggy instrumentals with lots of great bass and guitar interplay. Madison’s Full Vinyl Treatment will provide the bass-heavy, stoner-ish rock, and local nutjobs Sonic J will bring the heavy, spastic insanity. If you haven’t checked out this band’s YouTube video for “Spirit Of The Wolf,” please do so immediately.

We’re not saying Turner Hall Ballroom is the only place to be on Saturday night; we’re just saying you’d be a fool to stay home watching movies with a show this awesome going down. It’s the release party for Sat. Nite Duets’ new album, Summer Of Punishment, and this band generally rules live. Lucky for you, they’re bringing along two of the city’s other best live bands, frantic indie/dance poppers The Fatty Acids and psychedelic drone rockers Catacombz. We’d advise getting to the gig early to avoid missing a minute of music, ‘cause with this lineup, you never know which band will play your favorite set. ALSO, tune into 91.7 FM WMSE today (Friday) at 2 p.m. to hear a live, in-studio performance from Sat. Nite Duets and maybe they’ll bend your ears with some of those new tunes from that new album?

Still, you’re conflicted, because there’s another just-as-amazing lineup of bands playing at Rocco’s (a.k.a. American Legion Post 180). This show is dubbed “DIY Vs. Domestic Abuse V” and it’s a benefit for the Milwaukee Women’s Center. Fighting violence with violence will be a couple of the city’s hardcore heroes, Protestant and Burning Sons. If you like punishing riffs, earsplitting volume and lots of screaming, you couldn’t do much better than this show, which will also feature Cloud Rat, Neon Hole, Moon Curse and a half-dozen other bands. This is an all-ages show, and it’s for a terrific cause; basically your best head-banging opportunity for the month.

Sunday, we heard there might be a football game on television, but whether or not that’s your thing, you should start your day off properly: first, you should probably eat something. Then, head to the U.S. Cellular Arena at noon for opening day of your other favorite sport, roller derby! The Brew City Bruisers get the 2012 season underway with two epic bouts. Be sure to bring a non-perishable food item if possible to help the needy and save yourself some dough.

If you’re somewhat of a night owl, be sure to tune in to 91.7 around 10:45 Sunday night to hear an in-studio appearance by young Wisconsin singer/songwriter Nora Collins. The 17-year-old country singer recently won the CD Roulette competition at the 2011 WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) awards, so be sure to check her out on WMSE so you can say you heard her before she was famous.

Tune in Tuesday night as well at 8 p.m. sharp for Local/Live, this week featuring The Greatest Lakes. Anticipation continues to grow for this band to put out a record, since a couple of demos popped up last year sounding pretty fully-formed and gorgeous. Rich vocal harmonies and pastoral acoustic guitars bring Fleet Foxes to mind instantly, and it will be fun to listen to the band pull these off and hopefully play some previously unheard tunes live on the air.